


Without Us

by miyaicheese



Category: SB19 (Band)
Genre: Gen, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:54:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24626590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miyaicheese/pseuds/miyaicheese
Summary: SB19 accidentally time travel to 2025 to find their group falling apart and their future selves at each other’s throats.
Comments: 12
Kudos: 12





	1. Without Us Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Faded Memories](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24176413) by [miyaicheese](https://archiveofourown.org/users/miyaicheese/pseuds/miyaicheese). 



> I suddenly miss writing them as an idol group. And yes let's time slip again haha!
> 
> Will resume Coffee Prince tomorrow~ ♥︎

They all agreed that over a half year without a concert was too long. Despite the previous situation, they were now excited about finally performing with large audience.

Everyone were in high spirits even in the gruelling practice schedule they’d just been through alongside promotional activities for the concerts and their new albums, and now the day was almost upon them.

It felt good standing on stage together while in the empty echoing space of big dome. They’d all been doing practice long enough that they could picture how it would look tomorrow. They could almost see and hear the mass of fans with their banners and their light sticks, filling up the currently vacant seats.

It felt good back stage too, fooling around together while the technicians and stagehands made adjustments. They just making general conversation, a long time since what they felt like forever. Stell recruited Ken to play pranks on Josh with him. Justin amused Sejun with anecdotes from references of other artists. While Josh snorted coffee milk out his nose. Ken gave himself a bit of stomach ache from laughing too hard. Josh pinned the two down and wrestled them out of his clothes in revenge.

It was a nice feeling, despite the adrenaline buzz from their approaching concert tour, they were all filled with an innate sense of peace.

“I can’t believe it’s almost tomorrow already!” Justin said around a mouthful of catered lunch. “I’m actually nervous.”

“Justin we just got out of practice,” Sejun said. It was probably meant to sound reassuring but instead it just came out sounding calmer. “By tomorrow, you’ll be back in the swing of things before you know it.”

Josh and Stell shared a look but didn’t say anything and Ken shoved noodles into his mouth to hide a smile. They were all thinking the same thing with varying degrees of fondness; their dynamics sute would probably never change.

They exchanged casual, friendly banter as they ate. The twenty minute break passing in the blink of an eye before they knew it they were being called up onto the stage again. They took their positions and Sejun looked around, a frown on his face.

“Where are Stell and Ken?”

The three of them craned their necks, looking for their missing members. Eventually spotting them back near their lunch area speaking with a stagehand.

Sejun sighed, frustrated. He never had liked schedule being held up. “What are they doing? Someone go and get them."

Justin solved the problem, raising the microphone to his lips and all screeching into it, “Hoy po mga kuya! Stell and Ken, we’re starting!”

They both turned heads in tandem, much to the amusement of their bandmates. They looked a bit sheepish as they jogged over and joined the others.

“Sorry.” Stell face was a little red. “I was asking that staff if he needed help moving his lighting equipment and then he and Ken got into a little argument…”

“It wasn’t an argument,” Ken interrupted, flushing a bit as well. “I just got stucked on a debate. He was just telling his ability to fix a broken piece of stage equipment into a functioning one. But he turned sketchy as he mentioned converting time machines. Is this some kind of an anime? He obviously wouldn’t be working as the lighting guy if he invented stuffs then.”

Ken flushed as he realised that everyone surrounding him save for Stell was staring at him like he was off his nut. “Hey. Don’t look at me like I’m the crazy one. Someone needed to tell that guy to keep his day job.”

Justin shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot, like he was embarrassed for Ken. And for Justin to be feeling embarrassment for him, it had to be pretty bad. Even Josh didn’t seem to have anything to say.

Sejun raised an eyebrow but resisted the temptation to comment. “Okay. Well, now that we’re all here, let’s get back to work.”

Ken nodded enthusiastically, glad to be off the topic. Once rehearsal was back in full swing that distraction was quickly forgotten.

Practice went quite late. By the time they were almost ready to wind down, all of them felt pretty good about where they were at.

“We’ll do one more run-through of the overture tonight, then tomorrow we’ll take the whole thing from the top.” one of the coordinators told them. They were happy to agree if that meant they’d finally be done for the day.

At least they were happy, until Sejun spotted a very familiar piece of stage equipment facing in their direction and about to be plugged in. “Uh, Ken… is that meant to be there?” he asked, pointing at it.

Ken followed the direction of Sejun's finger with his eyes and frowned. He then looked around for the quirky lighting staff from before, but he was nowhere in sight.

“I don’t know” was all he managed to say before the equipment was connected to the power and he was interrupted by a blinding flash of white.

\-------

Ken was the first to wake up, sprawled on his back and staring up at the ceiling of the dome. He groaned, rolling onto his side and muttering about a splitting headache and malfunctioning equipment.

The complaints stopped very quickly when he realised that the entire dome was empty and dark. No concert coordinators in sight and the only other people still with him were the other four SB19 members, lying unconscious on the floor.

Ken was probably the worst possible person to have woken up first because all he did was sit there, eyes wide and hyperventilating until Josh moaned and woke up.

“Shit, what happened? Ken?” Josh sat up clutching his head then looked around. He finally noticed the other three, still out cold. “Are they okay?”

“I don’t… I didn’t check yet,” Ken said in a tiny voice, still dizzy. Josh went white in the face and scrambled to his knees, crawling over to Justin to check his pulse.

“He’s okay.” he said, his relief evident, then proceeded to check everyone else as well.

Stell woke up while Josh was checking his breathing. He ended up shouting in surprise and head butting Josh, then scooted backwards with an accusatory glare on his face.

“Aww! sorry for making sure you were still alive?” Josh snapped, gingerly pressing a hand to his forehead.

Usually Stell would’ve come out with some kind of funny retort but before he could, he also noticed that something strange was going on. The words died on his tongue. “What happened?” Stell asked.

Josh sat by thinking he was going to be very tired of that sentence by the time they’d all woken up.

“I don’t know.” Ken finally risked standing up once his head had stopped throbbing. He offered a hand to Stell who took it and pulled himself up. “Last thing I remember Sejun was pointing at that stage equipment and…” He trailed off, a look of realisation dawning on his face. “No way?? There’s just no way?!!”

Stell looked at Ken in bewilderment while Josh was already too busy kneeling by Justin, trying to wake him up to take any notice of them.

“What are you doing?” Sejun sounded appalled as he woke up. “If Justin's injured, you’re not meant to move him.”

Justin didn’t seem very injured though, especially not when he rolled over on his side and whined softly. “No…”

“Wake up,” Ken insisted, ignoring everything Sejun had just said. “You guys need to see this!”

Eventually, Ken did get Stell sitting up while Josh and Sejun set about seeing if they could rouse Justin fully.

“What’s the last thing you remember?” Ken spoke to Stell in a hushed voice, almost as though he didn’t want the others listening in.

Stell's brow puckered in thought. “We were on stage and then there was a white light. Right after they plugged in the…” He trailed off, face going white as all the blood drained out of it. “The time machine?!”

Three other heads snapped around to stare in their direction. Sejun winced. “Stell there’s no proof that it was a time machine, don’t be ridiculous,” he hurried to say trying to divert the other members’ attention. Unfortunately for their leader, it was far too late.

“Do you think we’re in the past or the future?” Justin seemed alarmingly unperturbed. “The dome doesn’t look too different so we can’t have gone too far either way.”

“We should go and find out what date it is,” Josh stepped in. “Once we know that, we should go from there.”

Sejun looked like he wanted to argue. If time travel were even possible, in theory they’d need to have moved away from the earth at a high velocity and then return and it seemed unlikely that that had happened. 

Josh's suggestion was logical. Technically they have a concert tomorrow, or rather they could only hope it was still tomorrow. It would be best if they could find out the date, time and preferably the reason why the five of them had been left alone and unconscious on the stage of dome the day before a performance.

Besides the fact that they were utterly alone, the next thing that tipped them off that something was wrong was the disappearance of their costumes, spare clothes and belongings. Fortunately, it hadn’t been a dress rehearsal because none of them wanted to go out into public wearing their promised mascot costumes. But that couldn’t explain why their bags and all their other personal items like cellphones were now missing.

They tried to keep their exit stealthy, since they weren’t sure if they were authorized to be in the dome now that it was devoid of staff.

It was even more surreal when they emerged outside into the daylight because as far as they were concerned, it wasn’t supposed to be daylight anymore when they almost wrapped up at practice.

“Okay,” Stell said slowly, letting the word roll off his tongue. “I was dubious before but this is getting a little creepy.”

Even Sejun had to admit that something was definitely off. Even if they’d been unconscious all through the night, there was no way the staff would have just left them like that for so long yet still have had time to dissemble all the equipment.

“Let’s just do what Josh said and try and find the date,” Ken said, doing his best to keep them on track.

They put Justin in charge of finding the nearest bookstore, since he was the one who spent the most time doing errands and was meant to know his way around.

They looked quite a sight – five perplexed young men with unkempt hair, all in desperate need of a shower, walking down the road together.

They found no newspaper on 24/7 convenience store so they opted to find a bookstore since the date would be the same no matter what. Newspaper or magazine, it didn’t matter. They did receive a rather worried stare from the clerk once they entered, probably convinced that they were a bunch of hoodlums here to steal things but they ignored her and went about their own business.

The five of them headed right for the magazine rack and Stell grabbed the nearest celebrity magazine then promptly dropped it in shock.

“Oh my god…” he trailed off, eyes glazing over. Sejun picked up another one, looking it over.

“It’s September 2025 issue.” he confirmed. Josh, Justin and Ken's jaws dropped in amazement.

“Five whole years?” Josh took it from him, needing to see for himself.

All the other magazines produced similar results, and unless they were on the receiving end of the most elaborate practical joke in history, they didn’t have any choice other than to admit that the lighting guy at the dome had managed to invent a working time machine.


	2. Without Us Chapter 2

“Guys, look at this!” Justin's soft, awed tone cut through their shock. “I'm on the cover of this one?”

The magazine got their attention and three other members of SB19 clamoured to get a look at the magazine he was holding. Sejun was the only one who stayed back and he was just about to stop and snap at Justin for not taking the situation seriously, when something occurred to him.

“So we didn’t just mysteriously disappear for five years before popping up in the future?” Ken asked.

Justin nodded, handing the magazine to Stell to get a better look at.

“Justin's hair is blonde again.” Josh said, and Sejun directed his irritation at him instead.

“We have to take this seriously! We’re stranded in 2025 with no money, no belongings and only with really sweaty clothes. The last thing we need to be thinking about is Justin's hair.” Sejun turned to Josh, taking the magazine off him and putting it back on the rack. “Can you remember the conversation with the stagehand? What did he say about how his time machine worked with travel to the future?”

Ken bit his lip. “It was mostly just him explaining why it still couldn’t work, but...”

“Nice work, Einstein?” Josh muttered, but Ken brushed the comment off.

“There was a lot of stuff in there about temporal paradoxes and how it could really throw off the space-time continuum. And… I think he said that, since the future hasn’t been made yet, to truly experience future events as they’re meant to happen, you need to do it in a reality where you never time travelled.”

Four pairs of horrified eyes regarded Ken and he finally processed the meaning of what he’d just repeated.

“Wait, so we’re not just in 2025, we’re in a different reality?” Stell didn’t keep his voice down as he said it. It was closer to a shriek than a whisper and they got more than a few concerned looks.

“Let’s talk about this outside.” Justin suggested, herding them all to the exit as the clerk watched them like a hawk to make sure they weren’t taking anything they shouldn’t.

Once they were out, they all simultaneously heaved a sigh.

“So, different reality or not, how do we… get back?” Josh asked the question on everyone else’s minds that they were all worried didn’t have an answer.

“I think…” Stell began, slowly and cautiously, “that we need to go and find that lighting guy. If his invention got us here then it’ll be him who can get us back, right?”

It didn’t sound like the most foolproof plan but it was the only one they had. Everyone ended up agreeing unanimously. The problem was where to start.

“I didn’t ask his name,” Ken admitted and Stell agreed that unfortunately he didn’t know either.

“Okay, so how are we supposed to find him? He’s not going to still be working at the dome, is he? Do you think they even keep track of their old employees?” Justin looked tense. “I mean, even if it’s possible to get hold of records, who is going to release anything to five guys with no identification?”

They were all silent until Stell tentatively spoke up. “Why don’t we go and ask ourselves for help? Our future selves, I mean.”

His comment was met with more silence as they thought it over.

“Is that a good idea?” Sejun seemed dubious. “I mean, we’re here within dome's city. I know Josh's place is near so he's the only one we can turn to. He either won’t believe us or he’ll think we’re creepy lookalike stalkers and call the cops on us.”

Josh's nostrils flared slightly. “I wouldn’t go that far and it’s not like we have any other choice if we don’t have money. You can walk to the next city if you like but I’m going to take a chance with myself.”

Justin still looked a little uneasy but he couldn’t argue with what Josh was saying. He was the only chance they had.

After raiding their pockets, they found they had about 500 pesos between them which wasn’t good for them. But was fortunately just enough for a bus fare for each of them to Josh's house. They could only hope his family hadn’t moved and that he wasn’t currently in his hometown.

The best plan, they decided would be for Josh and a few of the others to hide out of sight so the entirety of SB19 wouldn’t be invading his house with no warning.

They settled on Ken because he was close to Josh and Justin because Josh had always been weak to him, making the surprise visit. While past Josh hid around the corner with Sejun and Stell.

Ken rang the bell and Justin stood behind him, keeping his fingers crossed for luck.

It was Josh's mother who greeted them at the door and at least she recognised them. Neither of them knew why they’d been so worried, since five years was barely anything once you hit your twenties. But they were still thankful when she smiled and welcomed them in as “Ken and Jah".

“Josh's not back from work yet but you’re welcome to wait here until he is.” Ken visibly sagged with relief at her wording. Looked like Josh was in the city after all. “Let me make you something to eat.”

Tita Aldrene disappeared as soon as she’d said it, and Ken frowned. “She seems a little too happy to see us,” he murmured to Justin. “I can’t quite put my finger on it…”

“That’s better than not being pleased to see us at all.” Justin pointed out. And though Ken agreed, he did so with a bit of reluctance.

The two of them felt a little guilty about sitting inside on a comfortable sofa, eating snacks, while they left the others outside wondering where they were. But there would be no point in just leaving either. It was about an hour later when afternoon was just beginning to shift into evening, that Josh showed uplooking cheerful but a bit worn out from a day at work.

At least, he did look cheerful until he saw who was waiting for him in his living room. Justin and Ken had never seen anything quite like it. The instant transition from the normal smiling Josh to a completely blank expression the moment he saw them made it seem like a wall had come up behind his eyes.

“Josh…” Ken began, and Tita Aldrene who’d come in to welcome Josh home was suddenly out of sight.

“Guys…” Josh's voice was weary, much wearier than either of them was used to hearing from him. “I wasn’t joking when I said I couldn’t come. I’m busy. And even if I did, I don’t think it’s going to make a difference.”

Justin and Ken exchanged a look of confusion – not only did they have no idea what he was talking about but they’d never heard him talk to them like this before. Not only did he sound defensive but also annoyed as though he really didn’t want them there.

“Kuya Josh. It’s not about that.” Justin still had no idea what ‘that’ was but figured it was pretty safe to say that what they’d come to talk about and what ‘that’ was, were completely different things. “There’s something important and we really need your help.”

He put on his best imploring face, the one that always made Josh soften up enough to bend to his whims, but this Josh just looked frustrated.

“Can it wait?” he asked. “I’m tired, and there’s things I need to…”

“Josh,” Ken interrupted. He’d put on his ‘serious’ voice, one that he rarely used but it had the desired effect. Josh still seemed unhappy but he also appeared a little resigned as well. “This is important. We’re serious.”

Josh was finally starting to look worried now, but Justin and Ken were both feeling the same way. This wasn’t the Josh they knew. The Josh they knew would’ve demanded to hear what was happening the moment Justin told him that they needed his help. For him to try and brush it off, there had to be something wrong.

“Okay, what’s up?” Josh sighed.

Ken's eyes darted towards the door Josh's mother had gone through, as though weighing up how much he could say in a house with more than one set of ears that could be listening in on them.

“Can we discuss it outside?” Ken asked, and though Josh's mouth set into a tight line that said he very much didn’t want to go out again right after he’d gotten home, but he didn’t try to argue this time.

“Alright.” Josh agreed.

Ken relayed their story to him out on the street, where no one could eavesdrop on them from a room nearby. And just as Sejun had feared, Josh's reaction was less than desirable.

“If you’re playing some kind of prank on me, you could’ve gone one better than that.” Josh told them firmly. “I mean, time travel? Seriously.”

“It’s not a lie though.” Justin's face was earnest. “We have no money or I.D and we really need to find that guy to see if he can come up with a way to get us back. We have a concert tomorrow. Well, our tomorrow five years ago and we don’t want to miss it.”

“Justin.” Josh seemed like he was going to say more but he stopped abruptly and wrinkled his nose. He then shook his head. “Okay, look. I don’t know what kind of dumb game you’re playing, but…”

“Stubborn,” Ken sighed. “I guess we only have one shot at proving it to you. Come with us.”

Josh started to argue but Ken was still in serious mode. It was surprisingly difficult to defy him once he was. Josh reluctantly followed behind Ken, with Justin trailing behind him, around the corner where they’d left the rest of their group an hour and a half ago.

“Finally…” Stell started to say but he quickly buttoned his lip when he saw who was with them.

Future Josh and past Josh's eyes met. And the first thing out of future Josh's mouth was, “Did you actually go as far as to find me a creepy lookalike?”

“I told you!” Sejun couldn’t help but say. The look on future Josh's face was priceless.

It took a lot of convincing, involving comparing photos and dressing past Josh in future Josh's clothes and sending him back into his house to see if his mother could tell the difference. But eventually future Josh gave in and grudgingly admitted that maybe they were telling the truth.

“There’s no way you could get us all in the same place outside of work these days. Time travel seems like the only valid explanation.”

That comment caught them off guard. Future Josh didn’t miss the uneasy glances they exchanged. He cleared his throat and looked uncomfortable, looking like he was weighing up whether or not he should say what was on his mind.

“What year did you say you were from again?”

“2020. We’re about to resume our Get in the Zone concert tours”

“Aaah!!” future Josh's face softened for the first time that day. “Yeah. Those were good. Things were good back then.” The implied meaning behind those words wasn’t lost on anyone.

“Josh uh…” Stell sounded timid, about to ask a question he wasn’t sure they wanted to hear the answer to. “Is SB19… still together?” There was a collective sigh of relief which made future Josh laugh somewhat wryly.

“I guess a lot can change in five years. The SB19 I know now would love to break up.” That comment was met with five very shocked responses.

“Why would we want to break up?” Justin asked, in the same incredulous voice he would’ve used when he's devastated.

Future Josh shrugged. “I don’t know, you’ve got solo drama projects, I’ve got game streams. Sejun's solo singles have been doing better than ours for years now.”

“That sounds great for you guys.” Ken muttered, but Josh didn’t miss it.

“Hey, the last time we all got together to do an album shoot, you stormed off the location saying you didn’t know why you bothered anymore and that you should quit and focus on dancing. You can’t talk.”

Ken looked horrified. “Oh my god. We’re worse than our training days?”

“What happened to our group?” Stell just looked lost, as though his whole world had been ripped out from underneath him. “We really pulled it together after we came off hiatus. Things are fine right now. How did it all fall apart?”

Future Josh shrugged and moved awkwardly from foot to foot. “I don’t know? All of us were focusing on solo works, staffs and fans moved on and stopped caring about us as a group. I guess somewhere along the line, we stopped caring too? Justin's the only one who doesn’t want to give up.”

“Okay.” Sejun both looked and sounded doubtful. His expression clearly said that he could tell that this Josh wasn’t giving them the whole story. But he wasn’t about to force it out of him. Instead, he turned back to the rest of his group and addressed them. “I think we should go and talk to Justin here.”

“We have no money for the transportation though.” Ken reminded him and suddenly they were all looking back at future Josh.

Future Josh sighed.


	3. Without Us Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GOOD DAY!
> 
> I had this conversation with kuro_tenshii in the comments section, thank you very much for this! let me share this here in notes if in case you haven't seen the comments?
> 
> I did not intend or wish them to do solo with them sacrificing the group.
> 
> Uhmm.. I'm from a different fandom‐JPOP or japanese pop, and the idols there do all around.
> 
> *sing dance (in mvs cincerts and guestings)  
> *choreo compose (for their single, album, or projects they'll be in)  
> *stage design or cobcert production conceptualize (merchandise, concert setlist, performance concept)  
> *host (in music shows or concerts or variety shows)  
> *act (drama, movie, stageplays)  
> *dj in radio shows (just like what i meant in faded memories ‐ a platform where they could promote their group and read fanletters or random call some fans)
> 
> I wish SB19 could adapt those solo projects while waiting for their comeback. I have faith that they could juggle group practices and solo project cos those could benefit the group. I imagine them promoting their group in a wide market bcos of the exposure from tv, stage, movie and radio. *sigh* I hope their agency will do or be aggressive in promotions (idk how open minded korean industry is i am sorry).
> 
> But for the meantime let me do this in my fics. Well I didn't focus on that on Faded Memories to avoid confusion. I wouldn't elaborate it either in this story. Just letting you get my pov?

Somehow, they all managed to use future Josh's shower without having to explain to his mother why the entirety of SB19 had turned up in their place in order to clean themselves. He even donated a shirt to past Josh. Going to the other city with them had obviously been where he’d intended to draw the line in helping. But after some careful wheedling from Justin and watching Stell's face slowly get sadder and sadder, he couldn’t help but give in.

The back of his neck flushed red when Justin hugged him in thanks. And it looked to the rest of them noticed that he missed this. This being with the old SB19, without any tension or negative feelings. It was enough to give them hope.

According to future Josh, future Justin was still living in the same apartment the group shared as far as he knew. It was probably going to be a bit of a tight squeeze for seven people. But they’d just have to manage.

Future Justin looked absolutely delighted to see all of SB19 standing outside his door when he let in whoever was knocking. It took him a few moments to realize that there were a couple of extras tagging along. He squinted, wrinkling up his nose and trying to make sense of the situation.

“What did they put in my takeout meal?” he inwardly asked when there were two of Josh and a copy of himself in front of him, even after several eye rubs.

“Uhh, can we come in?” Sejun motioned toward the interior of the apartment and future Justin finally remembered his manners.

“Oh, sure!”

Any one of them probably would’ve bet money on future Justin being easier to convince of their story than future Josh. And they would’ve been right. He listened with wide-eyed interest as Stell and Ken told him about the stagehand with his time machine that actually worked, and waking up five years later in a dark, empty dome.

“Actually, I think I remember what you’re talking about." future Justin told them twenty minutes later, once their story had been told. “That was the practice day before we resume concert, right? And Ken was talking about time machines. Then someone mistook that guy’s invention for some lighting equipment and plugged it in and it blew up.”

Sejun's eyebrows shot up into his hairline. “I don’t think ours blew up. There was a white light and before we knew it we were in the future.”

“Hmm..” future Justin looked contemplative. “I don't remember a trip to the future. It just blew up for us that delayed our practice schedule a bit and then they arrested the guy for tampering with the equipment.”

“The guy did say something about experiencing future events in a reality where you’d never time travelled.” past Josh reminded them.

“You know if he was arrested, it’ll be much easier for you to find him than you thought.” future Josh brought them back to the more important topic at hand. “I bet someone at ShowBT will be able to get us his information.”

“I think there was a news article on the explosion as well,” future Justin added. “If you can dig that up then he’s as good as found.”

They all nodded in agreement but Stell looked a little troubled. “Actually, Justin I was just wondering we were talking to Josh about the current… situation SB19 is in. We can’t understand why…” Stell trailed off, not sure how to phrase what he wanted to say.

“You can’t understand why it sucks so much?” future Justin said bluntly and none of them missed the way future Josh turned his head away, as though embarrassed.

“I… guess you could put it that way?” Ken agreed uncertainly. “Josh told us about everyone's solo activities taking priority and not caring about the group anymore but it seems so unreal.”

Future Justin hummed, wiggling on Stell's knees. “I guess falling out of touch was part of it. It’s a long story. Things just started to break down a year or so ago. And by the time we realized there was a problem, it was too late.”

“It can’t be too late, can it? I mean…” Ken looked desperate, as though he wanted someone to tell him it wasn’t true.

Future Justin looked at him with a look somewhere between fond and sad. “I don’t know. I’m trying. We’ve been trying, it’s just… right now, even. I was thinking how nice it is to be with you for more than ten minutes and not to hear you complaining about SB19.”

Ken flushed bright pink and looked like he was trying to shrink into himself like a turtle. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry. Sejun and Stell are mostly the ones to blame, really.” If there was one thing that hadn’t changed over the five years they’d just skipped, it was definitely Justin's alarming candour.

“Our fault?” Stell's voice rose to a squeak. “How are we to blame?”

“You got into a big fight.” future Josh spoke up again. “You weren’t talking at all. We really don't know what got into you. Then Stell tried to talk to Sejun about it one day. But he must’ve picked a bad time because Sejun just exploded. It was like a domino effect after that.”

Sejun's ears went red, while the other four just looked on with surprise. Sejun's was irritable at times but he was a drama queen in more subtle, discreet ways.

“Stell just withdrew from the group after that. It felt like it did before the hiatus when he was just putting up with us instead of wanting to be there.” future Justin stared down at his feet with none of his usual cheer. And Stell couldn’t help but give his back a comforting rub. “It was really awkward, especially since we had a concert coming up. It was such a disaster.”

“The concert emcee talk were so painful. Sejun was practically the only one talking when Stell barely responded to him. Everyone could tell it was forced.” future Josh shrugged. “I don’t think I can really be blamed for withdrawing too. Justin did too.”

“I did the same too,” future Justin admitted. “I mean, I still love SB19. It’s just… it’s horrible. It’s exactly like when we almost quit. Endless silence.”

No one really had anything to say to that, and the silence that fell over the room then felt like it would never end either. But then Sejun looked up, swallowed and said, “I think that before we go back… we need to take care of some things here first.”

For future Josh and Justin, it was the first time in a long time they’d seen their whole group agree on anything so whole heartedly.

It turned out that the thing future Josh "hadn’t been joking about when he said he couldn’t come" was a last ditch attempt that future Justin had bullied future Sejun into helping him arrange to try and patch their group dynamics back together. Needless to say, it hadn’t worked out. This Josh had refused to come down from his city, citing his work schedule, and future Stell apparently refused to be in the same room as future Sejun for longer than five minutes unless it was for work set up by the higher ups.

This made it a little difficult for them to gather the whole group in one place on short notice. But with a bit of help from past Sejun, future Justin managed to con their manager into calling an emergency meeting early the next morning.

It was difficult to convince the manager that it was urgent enough for the group to need to gather almost immediately, but not so much of an emergency that he needed to be there too. Fortunately, future Josh told Sejun to slip in a comment about it being another one of ‘Ken’s brained schemes’ and that was all it took for their manager to practically start begging members to be in the room with them. It was the kind of thing past SB19 weren’t truly able to believe until they actually experienced it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2020.06.11 I know there are real happenings that were casually talked about on twttr. I firmly believe that there are two sides in the story. We need both in order to point out and fix problems. And the fixing part, it's not us to decide if we should join the battle or let legit and legal parties do their thing. Am I making sense? 🤦😂


	4. Without Us Chapter 4

As planned, past SB19 stayed out of sight until everyone had arrived and future Justin and future Josh had explained what was happening. But they could still hear and see everything: future Ken's forced hello when he arrived, future Sejun's lack of a greeting, future Stell's complete disregard of everyone in the room except future Justin… it was all so otherworldly. This is like something out of a body snatcher movie. 

Whenever all of them were together, the room was usually so lively and cheery but this silence – as future Justin had said – was so much like the one they thought they’d been rid of so many years ago. None of them were used to it anymore.

When future Justin and future Josh repeated the same story they’d both been told before, they were met with various degrees of disbelief. Future Sejun flat out denied it was possible, future Ken seemed unconvinced and future Stell remained completely silent.

When future Sejun asked for proof, SB19 knew that was their cue, and they stepped into view. Future Sejun's eyes bulged and future Ken gasped. Future Stell said nothing but he did look a little stunned. 

Future Sejun stared for a moment before folding his arms and denying it all over again. “Justin, seriously? This is taking the joke too far. What are you trying to…”

“That’s what I said too,” future Josh interrupted. “But they’re the real thing. But no one looks that much like or knows that much about another person unless they are them.”

Future Sejun looked at him with disbelief, but future Justin stepped in to agree. “Really, it’s true! His moles are in exactly the same place as mine. You can check if you like.”

Future Stell seemed unenthusiastic but everyone was looking at him so he couldn’t say no. He approached past Justin with suspicion, comparing the two of them.

It was true, the placement of their moles was identical but future Stell was a sceptic. “That kind of thing can be easily faked with makeup, you know.” he told them, and so saying, licked his thumb and rubbed at the moles on Justin's cheeks.

No one in the room had ever seen a more shocked look on anyone’s face in their entire lives. It was rare that past Justin looked particularly scandalized, but his expression today really took the cake. “Stell, that’s revolting. Don’t wipe your spit on me.”

Future Stell reeled back a little bit, his thought process was evident in his face: this guy certainly talked like Justin.

Like with future Josh before, past SB19 endured a lot of poking, prodding, comparison, and a series of very personal and sometimes embarrassing questions from their future selves to ensure that they were in fact, really them.

It took close to an hour for them all to be convinced but there was really no way that five people would go to the trouble of having plastic surgery to look identical to them down to the last blemish. And then style themselves to look exactly the same as they did in 2020.

“So, you guys are trying to get back to your year?” future Stell asked to clarify once the remaining members of future SB19 were as convinced as they were going to get.

“Well, we were…” past Stell looked to the rest of his group, unsure whether or not they should explain yet why they’d wanted everyone to show up. After an uneasy moment of silence, he finally blurted out “We heard about what’s been happening with the group and we thought we should try and help. It’s not good if we’re all fighting.”

Much like future Justin had witnessed with future Josh in this time, totally blank disengaged looks came over the other member’s faces the moment the topic was brought up. Future Josh had warned them, they’d heard it too many times, had tried and failed before, were just past the point of caring by now.

“I guess you’ve already heard it once too often, but…” past Ken shrugged, eyes darting around, looking for support then finished lamely, “We love working together.”

“It’s a bit different now, though,” future Ken said and past Ken looked so hell shocked that he was being argued with by himself that he didn’t try to say another word.

“It’s just not going to work. You’ll understand when you go through it.” future Stell added.

“Hey. Just because you ruined your friendship with this Sejun and brought the whole group down doesn’t mean we’re going to do the same thing.” past Stell snapped.

Future Stell slapped his hand down on his knee. “Don’t go spouting off about things you don’t understand yet. This is pointless. I’m getting out of here.”

The door slammed behind him as he left and future Sejun laughed uncomfortably. “He always gets worked up about that topic.”

“That just means that he still cares.” past Sejun said, voice soft.

Future Sejun looked a bit taken aback by his words, as though he couldn’t imagine still knowing Stell that well anymore.


	5. Without Us Chapter 5

“We should go and find him.” past Sejun said decisively, getting to his feet. “If that’s where the problem started, we should probably try to solve it from there.”

The rest of them seemed a little unsure but eventually future Justin got up dragging past Ken with him.

“We should split up." past Josh suggested, tugging gently at future Ken's shirt to urge him to come along. “It’ll be quicker.”

The Kens seemed a little reluctant but eventually they gave in. 

And future Justin handed his phone to his past self. “If you find him, send Josh a message. We’ll do the same if we get to him first.”

Past Justin accepted the phone and he and past Josh and future Ken went off in one direction, while future Justin dragged both future Josh and past Ken with him and ready to go.

Somehow, with future Justin's inappropriately optimistic personality gone, everything became a lot more awkward. Future Sejun couldn’t meet anyone’s eyes and after a while he stood up stiffly, shoulders hunched.

“I need a cigarette,” he muttered, mostly to himself.

Past Stell looked surprised. “You smoke?”

Future Sejun's mouth quirked into a wry, grim almost-smile and he shrugged. “A lot happened in the last five years.”

Stell and Sejun from the past looked lost for a moment but then future Sejun turned to go as the same time the past Sejun stood up.

“I’ll go with you,” past Stell said a little gruffly and though Sejuns looked a little surprised, they didn’t try to argue.

“Okay.” was the only thing past Sejun said and past Stell followed him out of the room.

Future Sejun's expression was still blank. He didn’t look anyone in the eye when he finally said, “I’ve got somewhere to be in a few hours. I might leave now.”

He was careful to keep his eyes averted as he left. So it wasn’t until he was halfway down the hall that he realised someone was following him.

“I guess you’ve a few hours to spare then.”

Future Sejun jumped at the sound of his own voice, and turned finally looking himself in the eye. “I can’t really lie to myself, can I? What do you want to talk about?”

Past Sejun regarded himself carefully, then jerked his head towards an empty room. “Let’s sit down you coward.” He didn’t wait for agreement, just went and did as he’d suggested, knowing the other Sejun would follow him.

It felt strange, gearing up to have a conversation with himself, but future Sejun figured that he knew himself better than anyone, he’d get the best results.

“It’s not like us to give up.”

Future Sejun's eyebrows rose, as though that wasn’t what he’d been expecting to hear. 

“Did we give up on something?” 

He didn’t receive a reply, merely a look that said ‘you know what I mean’ and he sighed. “I don’t know what else to do. If the others don’t care enough to fix it, then I…”

“Do you remember how happy we were when we debuted?”

Neither of them could help the way their lips quirked at the corners at the memory, and past Sejun continued, “It took a long time for us for everyone to accept SB19. It took a lot of work.”

Future Sejun nodded. “I remember. It wasn’t until I thought we were going to lose all that, that I finally started to appreciate it.”

“But you don’t mind if you lose it now?”

The question looked like it had the effect as past Sejun had been looking for. Because future Sejun's lips parted slightly, followed by a pause before he poked the tip of his tongue out to wet them nervously.

“I…” He paused, then frowned. “It’s different when they don’t want to fight for it either.”

“Hmm…” Past Sejun rested his chin on his hand, mirroring his future self’s expression. “I might be wrong, but I think they do want to fight for it. Your Josh and Justin could’ve refused to come with us and help us, but they didn’t. If they really didn’t care, I don’t think they would’ve. They want to. They just don’t know how.”

Future Sejun's face changed, the wrinkles in his forehead smoothing, giving way to a curious expression. “What should I do, then?”

Past Sejun smiled slightly. “Have we ever fixed our problems all alone? I trust in my group. You should too.”

He didn’t need to spell it out further.


	6. Without Us Chapter 6

Sejun and Justin from the past got a call from future Josh about the places where they could reach the Stell here.

Meanwhile past Stell got stucked with the person who seems to ignore himm He lit up future Sejun's cigarette, which the older took against his better judgement.

“It’s been a while since we’ve hung out like this…” future Sejun said after taking his first drag. “But I guess it doesn’t feel like that to you.”

“Yeah,” past Stell admitted. “I find it hard to imagine, to be honest. I can’t think of anything that could come between us.”

Future Sejun chuckled weakly. “You’d think so.”

He exhaled, and past Stell watched the trails of smoke float off and disintegrate in the air. The younger waited for some elaboration on what had happened, but this Sejun didn’t offer him any, just stood there looking confused and lost.

“So, are you going to tell me what I did wrong? If it’s my fault our group is like this, I at least don’t want to make that same mistake if we finally get back.”

Future Sejun watched as past Stell bit his lip. It already looked a bit worn, and past Stell thought idly that he must have a lot on his mind.

“It… I think it might’ve been my fault, really. I should’ve agreed with you instead of trying to justify it and then maybe…”

“Sejun,” past Stell interrupted. “Seriously, spill. This is something we need to know.”

“You haven’t talked to me like this in a long time.” He smiled a little crookedly. “I miss it.”

Future Sejun took a deep breath, nibbling away at his lip then put his cigarette out and turned to look past Stell in the face.

“Okay,” he said. “Okay. It’s just… you know how we’re the kind of… odd ones out in the group. Ken could do solo with his stuff, Josh has different networks, Justin has many concepts to do, but you and I…”

“We’ve got SB19,” Stell supplied. 

“Right? We’re special because of our friendship, aren’t we. We’re always ‘the Stelljun, who’re such close friends’ in the guestings.”

Stell from the past nodded. “Yeah. So what happened to that?”

Future Sejun sighed, couldn’t quite meet his eyes anymore. He looked so small and unsure of himself.

“You… I guess you just got sick of it. You felt like we haven't got enough merit.. It was almost a couple of years ago now, you came up to me and said everybody had their own color. That it was making it lame and that you didn’t need the whole world to know about your thoughts. And that if they were going to cut somebody out you said it would have been you.” future Sejun shrugged, trying to pass it off like it was no big deal, but past Stell could see that the memory still hurt him. “I told you it didn’t hurt to share and we got into a huge fight. You said I should be more like Ken and learn to keep our private thoughts private.”

Stell from the past opened his mouth, but found he didn’t have anything to say.

“I should’ve just listened to you,” future Sejun continued. “Now we don’t even have a friendship to sell anyway. We’ve barely got SB19 anymore.”

“Has anyone told me that I’m a complete idiot?”

Future Sejun laughed, and past Stell thought his eyes looked a little wet. “Back in the room, when your Sejun said… that the future Stell still cared, I felt really hopeful. I miss my group, I miss my best friends.” The words made future Sejun ache a little, and it filled him with new determination to try and set things right.

“I think they misses you too.”


	7. Without Us Chapter 7

Back in the room where they’d all met up, now devoid of anyone but past Josh and future Ken. Past Josh listened to a similar story from future Ken's perspective.

“Don’t feel guilty, though,” future Ken hastened to tell him. “You haven’t done anything yet.”

“I know,” the older bit his lip. “I just should’ve noticed if something like that was happening with Stell. And I should’ve fixed it and not let it go on so long…”

FuturebKen looked uncomfortable, not used to addressing serious topics. “I guess. The atmosphere when we were all together got really strained. Sejun and Stell wouldn’t talk to each other, even though Justin tried really hard to get them to relate. Then when Stell started getting all distant again, you were only interested in your sideline gamestreams…”

“You and Justin…”

“Uhh teacher got us into more trainings in singing and dancing. I think we got better that way.” future Ken shrugged. “We have more freedom when we were a duo, we don’t argue much. I didn’t want to believe it at first, but the others are right. SB19 is better off disbanding.”

Past Josh looked at future Ken like he was from outer space. “You can’t really mean that, can you?”

Future Ken averted his eyes and his face coloured a little. “It’s really different now.”

“So…” past Josh gave future Ken a sideways look. “Are you saying you want to spend the rest of your career with Justin only?”

“Well, that’s not…”

“Remember that time you left your things lying on the floor,” the older went on, “and the time you spilled juice all over his jacket?”

Future Ken twitched visibly. “Justin can be a little thoughtless when aggravated. He still nagged me if I doesn’t clean up the practice room and my stuff are everywhere. We still argue at times.”

Past Josh smiled. “I guess you guys will never change. How are you still not very organized.”

“No,” the younger protested. “But us duo is still better than the way SB19 is right now. I’m willing to put up with it if…”

“Don’t you miss everyone's smile?” past Josh interrupted him. “You’re always saying that you like the way everyone spread happy aura when we are hanging out in private. Have you done anything together recently?”

Future Ken stared at the ground. “We haven’t really been… hanging out. None of us have.”

Past Josh put a hand on his shoulder. “You know, at the end of the day, we were friends, right? Maybe not best friends, but friends. If we fix this then our time and effort wouldn't be a waste.” he trailed off, waiting until future Ken looked at him again. “It's important that SB19 stays together as a group isn’t it. I guess we wouldn’t last forever anyway, we all know that. But… making the most of our group would be great while it lasts.”

It took a moment, but Ken eventually nodded, looking deflated, as though he hadn’t realised the gravity of the situation until now.

“Then you guys are losing a lot more opportunities than your group right now.” past Josh told him.

Future Ken didn’t look like he knew what to say to that.

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a oneshot but suspense is fun. I hope?


End file.
